Shoe-bottom-filling machine



O 1929- A. THOMA 7 1,730,175

SHOE BOTTOM FILLING MACHINE Filed Nov. 1924 Patented Get. 1, 1929 ANDREW 'IHOMA, F CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO NORTH AMERICAN CHEMICAL GOM?A1\TY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSETTS SHOE-BOTTOM-FILLI1 TG MACHINE- Application filed November My invention refers to the type of apparatus disclosed in Patent 1,512,229, and in application Serial No. 633,143 and is subordinate to the application of George H. Maxwell Serial No. 747,273 concurrently filed herewith. As explained at length in the last mentioned application, the automatic water supply in this type of machine is apt to run dry so that thesteam generator fails to de liver steam to the filler in the reservoir and is liable itself to be ruined by the continued high heat and also the filler is ruined and sometimes the entire machine ruined. My present invention aims to render these dire results impossible. To this end I provide thermostatic means for automatically cutting off the heat from the heater if the water level in the generator gets dangerously low. Also preferably as soon as this condition occurs I provide means in connection with this thermostatic control for signaling to the operator either audibly or visibly or both.

In the drawings I have illustrated my invention in a view which is largely in side elevation but partly broken away and sectioned and partly shown diagrammatically.

The reservoir 1, heating flue 2, cover 3, filler space 4, work-basin 5, slide door and its handle 6, steam generator 7 steam pipes 8, 9, 10, heater 12, heating chamber 13, water supply pipe 14, sealing cup 15, water tank 16, water pipe supply or drip 19 from said tank and air pipe 20 into said tank may be and preferably are the same as shown and described in the aforesaid concurrently filed application of George H. Maxwell. Preferably, however, the end of one or both pipes 19, 20 is cut off obliquely, the object being to provide a graded and preferably a progressively increasing admission of air to the air pipe 20 as the level falls'in the cup and a gradual discharge of water by the pipe 19 into said cup, as distinguished from a sad den admission of air or a sudden increase of water discharge. In practice I have found that when these pipes (and especially pipe 20) are cut off square the change is direct and instantaneous from no feed to full feed and this results in a splash and sometimes in an overflow of the cup and at least in irregu- 1, 1924. Serial No. 747,276.

certain or irregular flow is prevented. This is specially deslrable in an automatlc control of the kind herein set forth.

The water supply pipe 14 is shown as extending along one side of the machine and upward at 21 where a lateral branch 22 enters so through the side of the machine into the chamber 13 and thence into the water chamber or steam generator 7' for maintaining in the latter a proper supply of water. Secured to the upper end of the upright pipe 21, here- 6c in shown as on the elbow 23, is a thermostat 24 which may be of any of the well-known kinds found on the market, being herein shown as a metal bar of the type which is made up of two strips of metal such for instance 7 as Zinc and copper having different coefficients of expansion so that under an increase of temperature the bar 24 will tend to bend to the left and under decrease of temperature will assume the position to the right as shown in the drawings. Secured to a block of insulation 25 is a contact 26 normally engaged by a'contact 27 carried on the lower end of the thermostatic bar 24. These two contacts 26, 27 are in the circuit 28, 29, 30, 31, -32 of the heater 12, a switch 33 in a switch box 34 being interposed between the wires 30, 31 for convenience in accordance with the usual wiring of this type of machine when electrically heated. Thus when the water fails from any cause so that the steam generator runs dry or nearly so and hence the heat suddenly increases abnormally, the temperature of the thermostat 24 will thereupon be raised so that the thermostat moves to the left Fig. 1 I

thereby separating the contacts 26, 27 so as to break the heating circuit and disconnect or discontinue the operation of the heater. At the same time the movement of the thermostat bar to the left as stated brings it against a contact 35 of a signal circuit 36, 37, 40 in which preferably there is a lamp 38 and bell 39 so as to provide a visual warning for the operator and if he happens to be absent from the machine it provides the audi- 0 ble Warning 39 for the foreman of the bottoming room or such other operators as may be operating machines in the vicinity. The lamp will be located as conveniently as may be in the line of the operators vision and the bell at any convenient place on the machine. Also it will be understood that the thermostat and adjacent parts if on the outside of the machine will be in a suitable housing. The location of the thermostat in this device is important. It must be located out of the high heat zone near the electric heater and preferably outside the casing which houses the heater, generator. and reservoir. In the I present embodiment it is shown attached to the highest point of the water feed pipe to the generator. When there is sufficient water in the device to insure safety, this feed pipe will be full, and as the generator and feed thereto are both open to the atmosphere, the temperature of the water and, therefore, of the pipe can not rise above the boiling point of water. As the thermostatic element is located to be acted upon almost solely by the heat conducted to it through this feed pipe, it can not normally be heated higher than the boiling point of water. At this temperature the thermostat maintains the heating circuit closed. If for any reason the water level should fall to a dangerously "low level in the generator, it Would recede from the high point of the pipe where the thermostatic element is attached, and upon the generator becoming further heated, the pipe would also be heated to a higher temperature and this heat would be conducted to the thermostatic element causing it to move simultaneously to open the heating circuit and close the alarm circuit. If the thermostatic element were located at any other place relatively to the device, it would move either too soon or not soon enough.

t will be understood that my invention is capable of a wide range of embodiments all within the scope of the definitions of the invention as contained in this description and the appended claims.

Having explained and defined the invention thus far it is further defined in the claims as follows:

1. In a machine of the kind described, a filler supply reservoir for the safe handling with a comparatively high heat of a heat responsive shoe-bottom filler which is normally slowly penetrative by heat and liable to burn at an extreme heat, a steam generator for supplying steam to said reservoir, an electric heating coil associated with the steam generator', means for feeding steam from said generator to said reservoir, a water feed pipe to said generator, and a thermostatic element attached to said ater feed pipe at a point at least as high as the bottom of said generator which maintains the circuit of the heating coil closed when there is sufficient water in said generator and opens the heating circuit when the water level becomes dangerously low, whereby burning of the filler is prevented.

2. In a machine of the kind described, a filler supply reservoir for the safe handling with a comparatively high heat of a heat responsive shoe-bottom filler which is normally slowly penetrative by heat and liable to burn at an extreme heat, a steam generator, an electric heating coil associated with said steam generator and a circuit therefor, means for feeding steam from said generator to said reservoir, a Water feed pipe to said generator, an alarm circuit and a thermostatic element attached to the highest point of said feed pipe and forming a part of both the aforesaid circuits attached to maintain the circuit to the heating coil closed when there is water in said generator and simultaneously to open the heating circuit and close the alarm circuit when the water level becomes dangerously low, whereby burning of the filler is prevented.

3. In a machine of the kind described, a filler supply reservoir for the safe handling with a comparatively high heat of a heat responsive shoe-bottom filler which'is normally slowly penetrative by heat and liable to burn at an extreme heat, a steam generator associated with said reservoir, electrically controlled means for heating said steam generator, the steam generator supplying heat and steam to the filler, the reservoir, generator and heater being enclosed in a casing, a water feed pipe to the generator extending through said casing, an alarm circuit, and a thermostatic element having one part aflixed to the water feed pipe outside of the casing at a point at least as high as the bottom of the generator and adapted alternately to close the heating circuit and the alarm circuit and to maintain the heating circuit closed when there is water in the portion of the pipe to which the thermostat is attached.

4. In a machine of the kind described. a filler supply reservoir for the safe handling with a comparatively high heat of a heat 1esponsive shoe-bottom filler which is normally slowly penetrative by heat and liable to burn at an extreme heat, a steam generator for supplying steam to said reservoir, an electric heating coil associated with the steam generator, means for feeding steam from said generator to said reservoir, a water feed pipe to said generator, a thermostatic element attached to the highest point of said water feed pipe which maintains the circuit of the heating coil closed when there is sufiicient Wat r in said generator and opens the heating circuit when the Water level becomes dangerously low, whereby burning of the filler is prevented.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ANDREW THOMA. 

